England's Queens

How Did England’s Female Queens Ascend to the Throne?

With the way the British Royal Family’s line of succession was conducted until recent times, how did we get to have any British Queens? With a ‘my boy trumps your girl mentality’ let’s look at how our Queens managed it.....but first please take the poll and then read on to see if you're correct!

I'd love to know which Queen(s) you missed if any so be sure to tell me in the comments below.

How Many Queens (in their own right, not consorts) Has England Had?

Queen Mary I

Despite having had six wives Henry VIII only left 3 children when he died, one son and two daughters.

His son Edward VI was always a very sickly child and ruled for only a few years before dying unmarried and with no children.

After Edward VI died there was an attempted coup to the English throne, but the next coronation was the one of Edward’s eldest half-sister Mary I.

Mary IQueen Mary I was the eldest daughter of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. This meant she was the granddaughter of Henry VII, Elizabeth of York, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of...

Queen Elizabeth I Print | Source

Queen Elizabeth I

Mary I married her cousin Philip of Spain and believed she was pregnant, but it appeared she wasn’t, some historians believe that she may have had stomach cancer instead.

With Mary unable to have a child when she died the throne passed to her half-sister Elizabeth the only surviving child of their father Henry VIII.

Mary II - William and Mary

Mary II, born in 1662, was the daughter of James II and Anne
Hyde. She was married to William of Orange as a matter of Charles II's (her
uncle) foreign policy. William was the
son of William, Prince of Orange and Mary Stuart (daughter of Charles I) which meant
that William and Mary were first cousins.
James agreed to his eldest daughter’s marriage, little did he realize
that this move would lead to his forced abdication of the English throne..

William of Orange was a strong proponent of Protestantism
and undertook the challenge to decrease the Catholic influence of France and
Spain. Mary’s father James II converted
to Catholicism, but his brother (who was then king) ordered than Mary and her
sister Anne were raised as Protestants.

When James II was on the throne he had problems working with
Parliament and he also made a number of Catholic appointments which made
leading Protestants fearful. The
situation came to a climax when James II established an alliance with Catholic
France and arrested Archbishop Sancroft (among others) for failing to proclaim
the Catholic faith. Religion was again
causing problems for England.

In 1688 something was to happen which caused protestant
nobles to reach out to William of Orange and ask him to invade. James II’s second wife (the Catholic Mary of
Modena) gave birth to a son which could have led to a
Catholic dynasty being formed. William
of Orange agreed and James II soon realized that his army was no match for
William’s army and so he fled to France.

The English Parliament took James II’s flee to France as his
abdication and sought to put his eldest daughter Mary on the throne. Mary, however, insisted on ruling jointly
with her husband. Parliament allowed
this unusual situation, including allowing William to remain as King if Mary
should die first (which she did) as it was a way of insuring that the English
crown remained Protestant.

Anne

Anne was Mary’s younger sister and when Mary and William
both died with no children she came to the throne. Unlike her sister Anne chose to reign as
Queen in her own name alone. None of
her children survived her however, but the Act of Settlement which was passed
in 1702 ensured that the English throne would remain in protestant hands. This meant that Anne’s German cousin George
became George I of England.

Queen Victoria Print | Source

Victoria

Victoria came to the throne because of the piousness of her
grandfather George III. George III
passed legislation that basically meant all of the descendants of George II
needed approval of the monarch in order to marry. After his eldest son George married and had
children the rest of his children saw no reason to marry and instead chose to
live in sin and have illegitimate children.
When George III’s second in line for the throne granddaughter Princess
Charlotte died during childbirth (the baby also died) the King was left with no
legitimate grandchildren and the race was on to marry and provide heirs for the
throne!

George IV was next on the throne, but Charlotte had been his
only child so upon his death the throne passed to his brother William IV who
had 10 illegitimate children, but no legitimate ones! The next brother in line did however manage
to have a legitimate child and he died before William which meant that upon
William’s death the throne passed to that child – William’s niece Victoria.

Queen Victoria's ChildrenIs Queen Victoria really the Grandmother of Europe? Isabella of Castille may want to lay claim to that title for herself! Queen Victoria was certainly a very fertile Queen having 9 children - 5 daughters...

Queen Elizabeth II | Source

Elizabeth II

When Elizabeth was born to her parents the Duke and Duchess
of York there were no parades held because no one realized that she would one
day be Queen. She was born 3rd
in line for the throne, but it was widely believed that her uncle David would
marry and have children. Her uncle
David would become known as Edward VIII and he chose to abdicate before his
coronation in order to marry the woman he loved – a twice divorced American
called Wallis Simpson.

Elizabeth’s father Albert became King, because of the need
to keep a feeling of unity with the throne after his brother’s shock decision
he decided to take on the name George after his father and so he became George
VI and Elizabeth was heir to the throne.

Upon the death of George VI Elizabeth II became Queen and
she is still Queen today.

How Can Britain Have Another Queen?

It will be much easier for Britain to have another Queen in the future as the rules of succession have changed which means that the eldest child will succeed to the throne regardless of sex. Having said that I can't see it happening for quite some time as the next three in line for the throne are all male!